The Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center has reached Stage 7 on the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM), developed by HIMSS Analytics, the research arm of the Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).

HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics database. There are eight stages (0-7) that measure a hospital’s implementation and utilization of information technology applications. The final stage, Stage 7, represents an advanced patient record environment. The validation process to confirm a hospital has reached Stage 7 includes a site visit by an executive from HIMSS Analytics and former or current chief information officers to ensure an unbiased evaluation of the Stage 7 environments. During the second quarter of 2015, only 3.7 percent of the more than 5,400 U.S. hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics database received the Stage 7 Award.

Avera Health is an integrated health system comprised of more than 330 locations in 100 communities in a five-state region. A full continuum of care is offered through 32 hospitals, more than 200 clinics, retirement communities, home care, sports and fitness centers, with care in more than 60 medical specialties. With more than 16,000 employees and physicians, Avera is the largest private employer in South Dakota.

“Avera McKennan is an incredibly innovative organization that is truly enabling their broad mission with information technology, John P. Hoyt, executive vice president HIMSS Analytics, said in a statement. “Their outreach through e-health makes them a world-class leader. Their HIE connections have reached 40 states, and their cutting edge use of pharmacogenomics is a true 21st century way to improve pain management for surgical patients. We are very pleased to recognize Avera McKennan as a HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 organization.”

Avera McKennan will be recognized at the 2016 HIMSS Conference & Exhibition on at the Venetian – Palazzo – Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, Nev.

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